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By Cady Colosimo and Jeff Pitts A look back at what some eateries’ buildings used to be If you’re going out to eat in downtown Des Moines, it’s more than likely the building you’re dining in was not always a restaurant. Several historic buildings — many of them more than 100 years old — occupy the heart of […]

By Jim Duncan Old soul Iowa cooking that you simply can’t resist One hears a lot these days about heirloom fruits and vegetables. Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah popularized the phrase before any grocery store knew how to exploit or misrepresent it. In its purest sense, it meant foods from varietal seeds that were vanishing […]

By Jim Duncan Spring was most definitely a time of reawakening in Iowa this year. After decades of reaping the seeds of denial sown by a state legislature filled with Farm Bureau lackeys, federal judge Leonard Strand dismissed all Des Moines Water Works claims against drainage districts in three northwest Iowa counties. He admitted that DMWW may well have suffered an injury […]

Popular in their neighborhoods but not necessarily destination restaurants for the general dining public — yet By Jim Duncan Most of us have a love/hate relationship with clichés. Too often they are trite or redundant, but sometimes it’s hard to find a better way to describe something. In the food world, we talk about “holes in the […]

Local ladies who star in the food business By Jim Duncan In most languages that apply gender to nouns, food is feminine. Italian is a rare exception. Americans who learn to cook usually learn from their mothers. My grandmother taught me to cook when she babysat me. Mom didn’t know until I surprised her by baking […]